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I have a question for all you Star Wars experts. It's a question that I've been trying to find the answer to but to no avail (at least none that I'm satisfied with).

In the first three episodes (Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith), Obi Wan and R2 shared many scenes and adventures together. So much so that I considered him more of Obi's right-hand man than Anakin. So my question is...In "A New Hope", when Luke finally meets Obi Wan after Obi rescues him from the sand people and he tries to return R2 back to him, Obi Wan says he doesn't seem to remember owning a droid. How can he not remember R2 after what he and R2 have been through in the first three episodes? How can one of the most wise and powerful Jedi forget? I remember Obi calling R2 "a friend". How could he forget a friend?

The most valid answer I got was that Obi Wan did remember R2 but he wanted to keep it a secret so it doesn't endanger the mission ahead. He didn't want to disclose everything to Luke like when he told Luke that Darth Vader killed his father instead of telling him the truth. Maybe he thought that Luke couldn't stomach the truth of his existence and the journey that lies before him yet . So in time he would reveal the truth to him. I'm not really satisfied with this answer. I'm sure there's a better explanation.

Other that this discrepancy, George Lucas' brilliant epic storyline is flawless. Anyone want to take a crack at explaining this?

If he doesnt recognize him as the same droid he at the very least has a look on his face that tells him something is up. It was definitely a deliberate thing that Lucas made Alec do in the scene. He just chose to ignore this (like so much else) when it came prequel time.

In the context of the movie though, it appears that he didn't think anything much of the situation until he got Leia's message later. Remember, he never came clean about ANYTHING ever until Luke more or less said: "Look, old man, *** is really going on!?"

Obi Wan skirts several issues with Luke and address the "certain point of view" criteria. If you think about it Jedi did not own things during Republic times. So Obi Wan was correct when he said he didn't remember ever owning a droid.......from a certain point of view.

techincally obi wan never "owned" artoo as it was Amidala's droid, which she gave to Anakin, which was then given to Bail Organa after PAdme's death, so from a certain point of view he's correct, he never said that he didn't know or recognize artoo.

Actually, he said he doesn't recall ever owning "any" droid, not R2 in particular.
Later in his house, he does in fact say he doesn't know who R2 is or "where he comes from". This could also be one of his coincidental omissions.

I like to think of the Star Wars Trilogies (both of em) as the story of C3P-O growing from a useless half-finished protocol droid (ep1-2), to a usefull protocol droid who's not good a telling stories (ep3-4), to a good storyteller(ep 6). Because otherwise it's all about Anakin and that just makes me mad.

the search for an explanation is an exercise in mental gymnastics because the truth is, Lucas had no idea of this part of Obi Wan's backstory when he wrote and shot Episode IV. It's just one of a plethora of details he ruins with the prequels.

You guys kill me, did u not read my post? Ive read the book I was talking about its The Life and Ledgend of Obi-Wan Kenobi...When he sees R2....it goes like this (I pulled the book out...)Goodness,Ben thought. It looks just like R2-D2. He smiled at the droid and said, "Hello there!" (You know the rest) At teh "Don't remember ever owning a droid." Ben said, eyeing the blue astromech more carefully. As improbable as it seemed, he realised the droid was R2-D2. He recalled that R2-D2's counterpart C-3PO, was supposed to have had a memory wipe, but he didnt know whether R2-D2 had undergone the same memory treatment, and this wasn't certain if the droid even recognized him after so many years. I've certainly aged more obviously than R2 has. Ben kept his musings to himself, but muttered, "very interesting..."

He recognized C3PO as well... and was amused by Lukes mechanical skills with fixing C3PO...whether or not Lucas knew about all this or not who knows...I know EP3 was written on the fly and he had no clue what was going to happen beisdes Obi-Wan and Anikin fight and Anikin becomes Darth Vader

I always figured he didn't recognize RD-D2 because there's a million of them out there. It's like hanging around a garbage can for a few years and then not being able to ascertain you're looking at the same garbage can 20 years later. Plus, he said he didn't recall ever owning a droid.... he didn't own one.

A friend of mine suggested that it was some galactic mental illness equivalent to alzheimers, I slapped him in the face twice. Once for his suggestion and another for the ridiculous name he came up with.

Also Luke never refers to R2 by name..er, number...he refers to him as 'this little droid'. Droids would be like automobiles. They are all over the place. There are some that even look the same but they all have different VIN numbers. Until Obi Wan figured out R2's 'VIN' number, he wouldn't have known what droid he was dealing with.

the search for an explanation is an exercise in mental gymnastics because the truth is, Lucas had no idea of this part of Obi Wan's backstory when he wrote and shot Episode IV. It's just one of a plethora of details he ruins with the prequels.

AMEN to this! That is why it took me so long to come back to Boba Fett. As the bounty hunter we all know and love, he is awesome! The kid in Ep. 2 darn near killed it for me! I don't acknowledge the prequels much anymore.

AMEN to this! That is why it took me so long to come back to Boba Fett. As the bounty hunter we all know and love, he is awesome! The kid in Ep. 2 darn near killed it for me! I don't acknowledge the prequels much anymore.

I didnt think the young boba was so bad...i do however HATE that on the DVD release of the special edition ESB, he changed Boba's voice to Jangos..which i guess technically makes sence, but to me that voice is NOT Boba!

As for the R2 Obi Wan thing...i always chalked it up as he knew...just wasnt tellin lol..pretty much for reasons already mentioned